WAS: SC - questions

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

hey all from Anne-Marie

Eden and Ras say:
At 12:35 AM 6/14/00 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 6/13/00 8:43:02 PM Pacific Daylight Time, LrdRas at aol.com 
>writes:
>
>> << in
>>   trying to overcome that we often pander to modern tastebuds & select only
>>   "safe" recipes which we KNOW will appeal to the meat & taters palate,
and 
>> in
>>   the process veer away from what was done... >>
>>  
>>  Interesting. Never been there. Never done that.
>>  
and Balthazar replies.....>
>I think this was meant in the collective "we", and not the "me and Ras
'we'". 
> Any time a new cook comes onto this list, I see the same thing happen.  The 
>vast majority of the members give them great advice on making the transition 
>from "modern" to "period" cooking, and then one or two folks pipe up with a 
>"holier than thou" attitude and scare them off.  Come on now, folks.  Are
you 
>"sure" it isn't better to start them off with something they are familiar 
>with, and then gradually bring them further into the fold?  Seems like this 
>would be a better way to deal with the "culture shock"...
>
it would be fair to point out at this point that when Eden (or any of the
rest of us medievally inclined cook types up here in Seattle :)) say "safe"
we're still talking about perfectly documentable medieval dishes. Just that
we tend to select the "safer" ones, ie go for the meat and sauce rather
than the grey minced gloppy recipes. Go for the simply prepared veggies we
have documented recipes for rather than the more exotic ones. Make sure
that if we do include some fun stuff :) we have stuff in the same course
than even the most pedestrian palate will be happy about. Watch the
vinegar. dont put poudre forte in everything, etc.

Chiquart clearly states in his treatise on cuisine that it is the
responsibility of a cook to pander to the lord and his guests. While I am
not willing to cook a feast of spagetti and garlic bread and chocolate ice
cream, I am very confident that I can feed people a selection of medieval
dishes that will make them happy.

- --Anne-Marie